Stella Violano, CaliforniaMember Since December 2006Artist Statement A Proud Member of ART HELPING ANIMALS! When I was a child the world was a place to be freely explored. I would ride my bike, the sun in my face and the wind blowing my hair, anywhere my heart desired. My friends and I would build forts, dig holes to China and our greatest worry was to be home before dinnertime. My art career started during such an excursion, when digging past the layer of sand in the local park playground I happened upon a wonderful discovery. Here at my fingertips was a thick slab of adobe earth clay. This discovery led to hours of sculpting subjects, usually the family dog. Soon my creations became more and more detailed. My father told me of the local history and the role that the native adobe clay played in building homes. It was this love of art, animals and history that lead me to change mediums to painting which allowed me to record even greater detail and imagery in a smaller space.
Between commissions and gallery work I began painting hard- to- place homeless animals (Seniors, disabled and common pets) in public shelters. The eyes of those dogs and cats hoping to find a loving companion were haunting. In order to try and bring attention to the plight of the animal I began placing the painted studies of the homeless pets for sale, telling the story of the subject in the description.
To date I have painted and sold nearly 200 homeless pet paintings, donating back a portion of sales to the rescue or animal shelter housing the pet.